It is known to produce metal surfaces on various workpieces by galvanic processes. Both brilliant surfaces as well as matt surfaces are feasible.
For certain applications, especially for decoration surfaces in the automotive field, satin metal surfaces are of interest. During a galvanic production of said surfaces, the problem appears, to adjust the degree of matt finish and brilliant finish, respectively, and thus the precise degree of the compromise between brilliant and matt finish desired in satin surfaces, in a reproducible manner.
Further, galvanic methods are known in which galvanic Ni layers are made with an adjustable degree of satin finish by an additional organic additive to the galvanic solution, said additive precipitating on the surface in a droplet manner and impairing the surface structure. Therein, the degree of matte finish or satin finish must be adjusted de novo by the added amounts before starting a process in a relatively cumbersome manner and the organic additives must be filtered out in case of an interruption of the process or before a new process start in order not to impair the new process. Thus, the above-mentioned adjustment must be done with each new process start and thus is complicated and disadvantageous in view of the reproducibility.
Further, it is known to sand-blast Cu-covered surfaces and then deposit galvanic Ni. The satin finish cannot be adjusted in an appropriate manner herein. Further, flaws of the optical appearance due to the sand-blast process can easily be created, e.g. brilliant regions due to particles lying on the workpiece during the sand-blast process. Also other surface defects appear relatively clearly.